


Why Should I Worry *hiatus*

by carcinaGeneticist



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Humanstuck, Maybe more characters later, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Stealing, Street Rats, big city setting, possibly more pairings later, runaway!John
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2014-11-03
Packaged: 2018-02-23 22:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2558903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carcinaGeneticist/pseuds/carcinaGeneticist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gang wars afoot and a lot of underage stuff. John runs away from home and meets street smart Dave. John stumbles into a whole new world that he's not sure he belongs to and Dave is worried neither of them will survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Should I Worry *hiatus*

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how this is going to work yet but I recently watched the movie and thought to myself "Dave is so Dodger". I just had to write it after that and I don't know if it's been done yet but I'm doing it anyway.

You’ve been all over these streets. The big city jungle is your playground and you know everything about it from every skyscraper to every tiny street cart. You know everything that goes on in this maze of metal, glass, and concrete. No one knows you except the people you chose. You’ve lived here for as far back as you can remember and, thanks to your older brother, you have a group of good friends at your back.

What you just witnessed is not a typical occurrence in your city. Hilarious? Yes. Typical? No. Now, it has happened once or twice but that’s about it. Not many new people come to this part of the city because of its reputation.

This kid is clearly new.

You watched as said kid, with messy black hair and square framed glasses, tried to be all innocent while he roamed around one of those street carts selling hot dogs on a street corner, a block from the main square. You know the owner if this particular cart; Big Ronnie is his name. It’s not just a name either, he’s a fat, greasy Italian with a bad attitude. You used to hit up his cart all the time because it was fun to trick the asshole. He’s quick to catch on though and should never be the target of a noob like this kid clearly is.

Needless to say, Big Ronnie was suspicious from the start but the kid didn’t notice. The boy waited for him to start talking to a customer and then reached his hand behind the glass for a dog. Big Ronnie was surprisingly quick for such a big man as he whacked the kid so hard on the hand with his spatula that you heard it the several feet away that you were.

“What do you think you’re doing, rat?”

The customer was so startled that they jumped away and just watched the rest with wide eyes.

“Uh, haha, nothing at all.” Said the kid and you snorted.

“Don’t play dumb with-“ Before Big Ronnie could finish the kid made a dash down the street to his right and towards where you were watching. Big Ronnie started yelling for the police and took about three steps before he was hunched over, hands on his knees, and wheezing. The crowds around just passed by ignoring the commotion as most big city people tend to do.

The kid was getting closer so you slipped into a darkened alley. You know he didn’t see you. You’re not sure what but something came over you as he drew near. You reached out just as he was passing, grabbed the back of his blue hoody, and dragged him into the alley. You dragged him a bit further into the shadows for cover in case the police actually listened to Big Ronnie’s call this time. You pushed the boy against the brick wall and shoved a hand over his mouth.

“Shh.” You shushed him and waited for a few minutes just to be safe.

This is where you are now. Pushing a kid against a wall and staring into his impossibly blue eyes. What were you doing again? Damn, those eyes are like how the fucking sky should be. It’s been years since you’ve seen the blue sky. This city is so covered in smog that the sky has a gray tint to it when you look up. When you were twelve, your bro took you to the country and you both stayed with an old friend of his for a few days. The guy was crazy and dragged you and your brother all over that place on “adventures”. The only vivid thing you remember from the time there was the sky and how blue it was.

“M, mm, mmy?”

Your attention is brought back to the present. The kid has an eyebrow raised. You remove your hand from his mouth and step back.

“Sup.”

“Haha, thanks man.” He laughs. You rolled your eyes, not that he can see you with your sunglasses on. You put your hands in the pockets of you black jeans.

“You should find a different target. Big Ronnie isn’t a fool.”

“Oh, I can be very tricky once I know what I’m dealing with.” He says and crosses his arms over his chest.

You snort. “It would be pretty dumb to try that again since he’s seen your face.”

“If I had some help, that wouldn’t be a problem.” He gives you a meaningful look and you can’t help the small smirk that forms on your face. The nerve of this kid. “The name is John Egbert.” He states and holds his hand out to you. “What’s yours?” You just stare.

And….he stares right back at you. You’re tempted to keep this up just to see how long it will take before his gives up. You make the mistake of looking back at those blue eyes. Fuck.

“Dave.” You grunt.

“Dave?”

You nod.

“Daaaaave…” He lets his voice trail off.

“Strider.” You sigh.

“Okay, Dave Strider, you gonna help a brother out?” He takes a step towards you and invades your space. This close, you notice that he is only an inch or two shorter than you and has buck teeth and that they are pearly white. His clothes are clean and not ripped or faded at all. His hair is messy but clean. There should be no reason for this kid to be pilfering food off the street because he has someone to take care of him. At least, he did.

The evidence speaks for itself when compared to your faded and ripped jeans, worn down converses that were red at some point, and frayed red t-shirt. You and your hair is clean because you’re lucky and your teeth are clean and white but you know you have cavities and they sure as hell aren’t that white. The only thing that looks nice or worth something on you is your pointy shades that your bro gave you. Your curiosity is piqued now and you can’t resist agreeing.

“Sure.”

His face splits into this blinding smile that shocks your system. Wow, too much enthusiasm. You feel the beginnings of regret already and you think that this kid may just be the death of you. He grabs your right wrist and pulls the hand attached from your pocket to grasp it with his hand. He gives them a firm shake before letting go and turns towards the entrance of the alleyway. His smile slides into a grin. It’s just unnerving enough to make you take a note to not underestimate him.

“Alright, let’s do this bro.” John says and the both of you head back out.

\-->

You’re waiting in the short line to Big Ronnie’s cart. John is at the front talking to the big man himself. The plan is for him to create a distraction while you come around and snatch the hot dogs. He said that you won’t miss the signal but he’s doing an awful lot of hand motions and Ronnie looks like he’s about to start shouting for the cops. You decide to wait for something more obvious. 

This plan is pretty weak, if you’re being honest, and it probably wouldn’t work with anyone else but you. Egbert is fucking lucky he came across you instead of someone else. With your Strider speed, honed over years of training with your bro, you would actually succeed with or without the noob. You stifle a yawn behind your hand just before you hear coughing from up ahead. You snap to attention and notice a large cloud of smoke surrounding Big Ronnie and John. Smoke pellets? Seriously?

You shrug and flash step to the back of the cart. You grab a plastic bag from behind there and fill it with hot dogs, some already cooked, some not. You do this so fast that you’re already three yards away before John is bounding after you in a fit of giggles.

You guys keep a brisk run up until you get to one of the many construction sites around the area. You slow down and make a quick scan of the site. No workers so they’re still on break even though it’s past lunch time. John plops down on a steel beam and breathes a sigh of relief. He looks at you with the stupid, gorgeous smile of his and laughs.

“Dude, that was awesome!”

“Sure was, Egbert.” You answer in your usual monotone.

“We make a pretty good team.”

“Yep.” You check the bag hanging from your wrist. You have a pretty good amount of dogs and you know your friends need every bit. Too bad for the kid but life is tough and even worse in this city. If he plans to keep living here, he might as well get used to it sooner rather than later. You’re doing him a favor really. Anyone else would do much worse. “Thanks for the help. We should really team up and pull this Bonnie and Clyde shit again sometime. Catch ya later, John.”

With that, you bend your knees low and push off. You get just enough air to catch the beam above the kid with both hands and swing yourself up so that you’re now standing on it.

“Wait, what?!”

You’ve dashed along the metal framework of the new building to the other side before you glance over your shoulder. John is on his feet and chasing after you. You give him points for persistence but you know you’ll lose him soon.

“Get back here!” You hear John shout from the ground as you get to the edge of the construction site.

Main Street is now in front of you and its one of the busiest streets, filled with cars bumper to bumper. You launch yourself forward from the end of the last beam and land on the top of a taxi. You start hoping from car roof to car roof, eliciting lots of angry shouts from the drivers. You get to an eighteen wheeler and pull yourself up on top of the trailer. The light turns green and you sit down, feet hanging off the side, for the ride.

\-->

As the truck speeds down 20th, you hop off onto a silver Jag. Nice car. You feel a little bad about jumping on it for, like, a minute. You move on though, hoping along the cars lining the four lane street to the other side. You touch down in front of a dingy looking pawn shop. You glance around for any sign of Egbert and you don’t see any so you figure it’s safe to stop in for a second.

“Sup, Tony.” You say as you open the door and enter the shop. The door flings shut behind you and you stroll further in as a balding guy jumps behind that tattered counter and turns your way. Tony is your man if you need fast cash. He always gives you ten dollars, at least, because he did business with your bro before you. He still speaks highly of Bro if he’s brought up. Say’s he was a good man, a hero of the streets. You used to like to hear him tell stories of your bro but not lately.

He squints his beady eyes at you as you scan around the tiny dump for anything new. The shelves are piled up with junk of all sorts. Tony is a bonafide hoarder hiding his illness in the cleaver form of a business. You’re surprised anyone can ever find anything in here.

“Dave.” He states curtly. You startled him and he hates to admit when he gets startled so he will get a slight attitude with you whenever it happens. “You need to get that angry gremlin of yours under control.”

You smirk. “Aw, you know Karkat doesn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yeah, I know but my other customers sure as hell don’t.” He grumbles and even grumbling you can hear his thick accent he gets from having lived here from birth.

“Man, don’t pretend like you don’t enjoy getting into shouting matches with him. Everyone does.”

“I don’t know ‘bout ‘everyone’.” He says but his tone is lighter and he has a grin on. Just as you thought; it’s not just you that likes picking on Karkat.

The door to the shop opens and slams shut again. You turn your head to see none other than John fucking Egbert.

And he looks pissed.

“YOU!” He shouts, venom dripping from that one word.

“Friend of yours?” Tony asks sarcastically. You shrug.

John takes several quick steps towards you and his sudden burst of speed surprises you for just a second. Long enough for his to get within an inch of grabbing the bag of dogs with his outstretched hand. You snap out of it and flash step around him to his back. You then grab his hood (Wow that is a long ass hood. How did you not notice that before?) and lift it up over his face. You then grip his shoulders and spin him a few times.

“See you around, Tony.” You say and wave before you’re out the door and speeding down the street laughing.

You’re a few blocks away before you slow down and realize that you’re still laughing. Actually laughing for real. You lean your back against one of many brick buildings surrounding you and try to calm down. It’s been so long since you’ve had a genuine laugh and it takes another minute before you can rein it in.

You feel great. For the first time in about a year now, you actually feel alive. Hah, kudos to the loser with the killer smile. No one’s kept you on your toes like that since Bro. You sigh and push off the wall. Time to get home with the food. You hope it’s enough for everyone. You hope no one asks what took you so long because you kind of don’t want to share this with anyone else yet. You can’t stop smiling now though.

You can leave the poker face off for a little bit. Just this once. You want to enjoy this feeling before it fades.

**Author's Note:**

> It probably feels like I'm not going to finish any of my works but, I promise, I will. It's just that once I get a good idea like this, I have to take a break and write it or I'll lose it X_X


End file.
